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“We’d lose one after the next”: Texas bats face a pandemic of their own

Weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic swept into Texas, a biologist found a dead bat covered in a white fungus — the state’s first official case of white-nose syndrome. Now, scientists are on a mission to understand how many bats have been lost.


Nate Fuller, bat specialist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, prepares to survey the bat population in Gorman Cave at Colorado Bend State Park on July 13, 2023. “I’ve been coming here since I first came to Texas back in 2008,” Fuller said.
Debbie Hicks, Texas State Park Ranger, second from right, points toward the gate that blocks humans from the depths of Gorman Cave during a visit to survey the bat population at Colorado Bend State Park in Bend with Alex Buckle, seasonal bat technician with Texas Parks and Wildlife, left, Nate Fuller, bat specialist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, second from left, and Hicks’ husband, Bobby, on July 13, 2023.
From left: Caesar, a Mexican free-tailed bat, and Rayna, a cave myotis (myotis velifier) bat, at the Austin Bat Refuge. Rayna was brought to the refuge with a hole in its wing after being attacked by a predator bird.
From left: a hoary bat and Saber, a male red bat, at the Austin Bat Refuge. According to Mackenzie, co-founder of the Austin Bat Refuge, hoary bats usually migrate to Canada in the spring to have their babies, but this bat was brought to the refuge after being attacked by crows.

More bats, less pesticides

Troy Swift, owner of Swift River Pecans and president of the Texas Pecan Board, walks among his award-winning pecan trees at one of his farms in Lockhart on Aug. 3, 2023. Swift started using bat boxes on his farms in 2021 in an effort to reduce pesticide usage.

Winged attractions

Tourists watch on kayaks, paddle boards and boats as Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from their roost at the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin on July 28, 2023. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Congress Avenue Bridge hosts the largest urban bat colony in the world, estimated at 1.5 million bats.
Lee Mackenzie, co-founder of the Austin Bat Refuge, watches among tourists as Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from their roost at the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin on July 28, 2023. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Congress Avenue Bridge hosts the largest urban bat colony in the world, estimated at 1.5 million bats.

Other threats to Texas bats

Lisa Ramie, bat care specialist at the Austin Bat Refuge, feeds a pair of hoary bats during the daily morning feeding at their backyard flight cage in Austin on July 14, 2023.
Dianne Odegard, co-founder of the Austin Bat Refuge, feeds a juvenile eastern red bat a blended mix of milk and “bug juice” during its rehabilitation process in Austin on July 14, 2023.
Debbie Hicks, Texas State Park Ranger, watches hundreds of bats emerge from Gorman Cave during a visit to survey the bat population at Colorado Bend State Park in Bend on July 13, 2023.

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